[Story] Xanaroth’s Journal

I had a visit the other evening, from Vallindra’s brother. We don’t often get visitors, and we hardly ever see him, so it was doubly unusual. She wasn’t home at the time; she was in the city shopping for winter gifts with her mother (and that boy). I suspect Hethurin might have known somehow — maybe he’d been watching — and that’s why he chose that evening. He wanted to tell me that the wards at the school had been working well, though Firewind was the one who made them. I’ve never been very good with wards — bindings are another matter, but of course that isn’t what they needed. The research from the new Tanaris species has been helpful, he said. I wish I could have had more time with them. I’m still sorting and compiling notes, and doing tests on Firewind’s over-sized imp when I can, which isn’t as often as I would like. While we know some things about them, there’s a great deal we don’t know, such as resistances or weaknesses to specific spells, their reactions to various herbs and magical compounds, things like that. All the sorts of things you would expect in a demonic compendium. Vallindra did the wards here, though in truth they’re more to keep ours in than to keep anything out. Any wild demon who stumbled through our roof might be unpleasantly surprised.

He had a great many questions about the demons here, primarily how they might be getting here. I explained that they could not come on their own, they would require a portal to be opened into the Ghostlands. I thought it best not to mention the flying structures — if one of those was here, it would surely have been noticed and I thought it best not to scare him. There aren’t any here, nor have there been. We would have seen them. I explained that portals of that size and power would require an immense amount of energy to maintain, the ones that we observed in Tanaris were set on leyline crossings. That would amplify the power of whoever — or whatever — is keeping the portal open. Hethurin wanted to see Vallindra’s maps, which I showed to him. There are only a few ley crossings that I believe would be large enough, and I pointed them out. He seemed thankful for the knowledge, but I can’t help but wonder what he plans to do with it. Does he intend to try to close them? Doing so would be both difficult and dangerous, especially for a mage untrained in demonic magic. Perhaps ward the boundaries, so the demons are trapped within? It might work, though it would likewise require an immense amount of energy and it would be impossible for him to maintain them alone. Perhaps he could place a second portal directly at the exit, so that the demons step from the Nether into the bottom of the ocean, or something like that. It’s an amusing thought, but again, would require a power source.

Hethurin said that the school is doing well, and that I ought to visit for the winter ball. I’d very much like to, but I know he still mistrusts Vallindra, and I’d rather not leave her home alone. Unless she has plans already that night, I suppose. I just hope she doesn’t gain any ideas from her mother about leaving me for a boy who works at the pool. I don’t think I’m that old just yet.